[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #597, Lent 3, 2/24/08

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Lent 3 – February 24, 2008

Exodus 17:1 7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1 11
John 4:5 42


The Wrath of God

It is hard to hear the Psalmist speak for God and say, "For forty years I loathed that generation and said, 'They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.' Therefore in my anger I swore, 'They shall not enter my rest.'"  (Psalm 95:10-11)  Not so hard to hear God's people say, "Is the LORD among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7)  Paul shields our eyes from God's wrath with the cross, but he doesn't deny wrath's existence:   "Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. "  (Romans 5:9)  If God loathed the first generation out of Egypt, what about the Samaritans?  What about an impertinent Samaritan woman living in sin?  Unlike the former generation, her answer to the question, "Is the LORD among us or not?" was, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"  (John 4:29)

What does the wrath of God mean?  It means that our lives unfold under a curse.  Their potential is radically reduced.  The first generation out of Egypt were headed to the promised land, but that potential was wiped out by the wrath of God.  How do we earn the wrath of God?  Indifference to God and indifference to neighbor, the opposite of the "greatest commandment".  Do I hear anxiety in the voice of the Psalmist?  "O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!"  (Psalm 95:1)  We had better celebrate God's presence.  Otherwise, God may find us indifferent.  Remember what happened to us when we asked what difference God was making.  God can make a big, bad difference.  The wrath of God is the price we pay for having a God who cares, for whom our relationship makes a difference.  The privilege of a personal relationship with God includes the peril of an angry relationship. 

John goes to great length to describe Jesus sitting by the well of an estranged people, sitting by the place they come to sustain their lives.   "Could this be the savior?" is the rhetorical question.  The savior from what?  The savior from the wrath of God.  Oh, you can make a case for his being the savior from Satan.  Judas may have hoped Jesus was the savior from Rome.   All three are formidable threats, but Satan and Rome pale in comparison to God.  If we can be saved from the wrath of God, reconciled to God, we can cope with the other two.
If the meaning of Jesus as Savior, is primarily Jesus as Savior from the wrath of God, then we don't know the savior apart from knowing the wrath of God from which we are saved.  Look for wrath at work inside us and among us.  It is one of the ways we answer the question, "Is the LORD among us or not?"  It is the only way we can share the joy Paul knew when he proclaimed, "But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.  Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.  (Romans 5:8-9)


May these thoughts strengthen you. 
 
An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors 
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor 
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